When we say Stephen A. Smith is done with Kyrie Irving, we really mean Stephen A. Smith is done with Kyrie Irving.
Smith on Wednesday tore apart the Brooklyn Nets guard, calling on Irving to immediately retire amid his bizarre off-court drama. Irving has missed the Nets' last four games after the team became aware of his maskless partying with family members.
Irving, who seemingly causes problems everywhere he goes, apparently has left his own head coach incredulous. And, to put it lightly, Smith has seen enough from the 28-year-old.
"Let me say this straight up and down: I think Kyrie Irving should retire. I think he should announce his retirement today," Smith said during Wednesday's "First Take" episode. "Clearly you don't want to play basketball bad enough. Now you might still want to get the $33.4 million -- obviously devoid of some of the docked pay you'll receive because you haven't complied with safety protocols or measures and as a result the league is going to determine when you can come back instead of yourself, or taking personal leave and obviously forfeiting game checks and whatever the case may be. But, still in all, at the end of the day you still gonna get in excess of $20 million.
"... Kyrie Irving has not prioritized basketball. I'm not saying he does not want to play altogether -- I'm saying he hasn't prioritized it. And how fair is that to the Brooklyn Nets? How fair is that to (Nets general manager) Sean Marks? How fair is that to Steve Nash, a coach that he endorsed bringing on board? ... How fair is that to his brotha', Kevin Durant?
"... Go ahead and retire. Go ahead and retire until you know you're committed to playing."
Yeah, those are some strong words.
How the latest Irving drama plays out remains to be seen. However, at this point, his tenure in Brooklyn is playing out almost exactly as many in Boston predicted.
